Rail-track-sluing machine.



W. U.. ARBENZ & 0. KAMMBRER.

RAIL TRACK SLUING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 9, 1914.

, Patented June 16, 1914.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH c0., WAsHlNumN. D. c.

W. U. ARBBNZ & O. KAMME-RER. RAIL TRACK SLUING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED APR. 9, 1914.

1,100,006, Patented June 16,1914.

3 BHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH CDJWASHINOTON. D- c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILI-IELM ULRICH ARBENZ, OF GLEIWITZ, AND OTTO KAMMERER, OF CHARLOTTEN- BURG, GERMANY.

RAIL-TRAGK-SLUING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 11 16, 1914,

Application filed April 9, 1914. Serial No. 830,753. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILHELM ULRIoH ARBENZ, mining engineer, residing at No. 5 the Promenade, Gleiwitz, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, and Orro KAMMERER, engineer, residing at Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany, subjects of the King of Prussia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail -Track- Slumg Machines; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appert'ains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to machines for sluing rail-tracks and more especially to machines of the kind that lift the rails and shift them laterally by means of rollers which are attached to the middle of a bridge that is supported at its ends upon two bogie carriages.

The object of our invention is to produce a highly efiective rail-track sluing machine which is capable of shifting the track rapidly, uniformly and with precision while subjecting the rails to the least POSSIblQ strain, which is simple in operation and easily made ready for action and wh ch can be applied equally well to various kinds of rail-track systems.

According to our invention the bridge of the rail-sluing machine for lifting and sluing the rails is provided with sets of 11fting and sluing rollers, which laterally embrace the two rails on which the carrlages that support the bridge travel. The rollers are arranged so that several of them are placed at each side of each of the two rails and that all of them are pressed against the rails simultaneously. They are also arranged so as to be removed from the rails simultaneously and are mounted on vertical or approximately vertical axes. We provide these rollers with flanges at their bottom ends by means of which the rollers grip the rails beneath their top flanges when they are moved against the rails. The fish plates by which the rails of the rail track are joined are planed or thinned down at their upper edges so that they still afford sufiicient support to the upper flanges of the rails but are not struck by the rollers that grip the rails.

We attach the rollers on each side of each rail to a common block or support and we arrange all the blocks or supports so that they may be shifted in the proper manner by the turning of a spindle or other suitable means, the ends of the supports that carry the rollers being moved toward the rails when the spindle is turned in the one direction and being moved away from the rails when the spindle is turned in the other direct-ion.

We mount the blocks with the shifting device on a slider which may be moved transversely across the bridge or in other words transversely to the rail-track. If the shifting or sluing operation is commenced after the sets of rollers have gripped the rails the rail-track will also be caused to shift. Further means are provided by which the slider with the rollers, and if desired also the rails embraced by the rollers, may be raised. We also provide means for removing the machine at certain times from the rail-track 011 which it ordinarily travels, and which it is used to shift, and for putting it aside so that other machines and devices that must be permitted to travel over the same track can be moved past the sluing machine. For this purpose we provide auxiliary tracks which can be fixed transversely to the ordinary track and arrange lifting devices on the machine by which it can be transferred to the auxiliary track. We provide further means on our machine by which it may suit ably shift a neighboring rail-track lying on sleepers located near thetrack on which the machine ordinarily travels.

Other details and advantages of our invention will be elucidated in the following description in which reference is had to the accompanying drawings.

Like parts in the various drawings are designated by similar reference characters.

Figure 1 represents a side view of an example of construction of our invention in which the left end is shown in the position assumed when the machine is ready for executing a rail-shifting operation, while the right end is shown in the position assumed when the machine is to be removed from the track. Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view on for shifting a'neighboring track.

the line A, B in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the arrangement shown in Fig. 1 in which the machine travels on the two rails of a five rail excavator track. Fig. 4 represents a view similar to that in Fig. 1 but in which different means are shown for moving the machine aside and Fig. 5 shows a cross section on the line C, D of Fig. 4 which corresponds. to Fig. 2 and which explains the manner in which the machine travels on an auxiliary track. Fig. 6 shows an arrangement of a rotary auxiliary rail-track on a larger SCZLlG. Fig. 7 p is a section on the line E, F of Fig. 6 and shows a stop for limiting the rotary movement of the auxiliary rail. Fig. 8 represents on a larger scale a side view of the lifting and sluing device that is arranged in the middle of the bridge, the device being shown in this figure in its operating positlon. Fig. 9 is a central vertical section of the machine on the line G H of Fig. 8 or on the line J, K of Fig. 11, after a removable auxiliary device for shifting a second rail-track mounted on independent sleepers has been removed. Fig. 10 is a similar sectional "lBWlIl wh1eh the machine 1s shown with the auxiliary device. Fig. 11

is a section on the line L, M in Fig. 10. Fig.

12 is a diagrammatic representation of the manner of shifting the rail-track in cases where there is an aggregation of cross sleepers which are common to all the rails that are to be shifted. Fig. 13 is a corresponding representation for cases in which there are two independent aggregations of sleepers. Fig. 14 shows on a still larger scale the form of the fish plates by which the sections of rails are joined to each other and from this figure may be seen the manner in which the rollers embrace the top flanges of the rails. Fig. 15 is a front view and Fig. 16 a side view of the auxiliary device On two bogies 1, 1 a bridge 2 is mounted from the middle of which sluing rollers 3 suspend. The sluing rollers 3 revolve on verticle axes and are provided at their lower ends with flanges 4. The fish plates 5 by which o-in the rails 6 with which the rollers 3 engage are planed down at their upper outer edges at 7 (see'Fig. 14) sothat the rail flange 8, is sufliciently supported by the fish plates 5 but that the flanges 4 of the rollers 3 are still enabled to grip the upper flange of the rail with their whole breadth.

On each side of'each of the two rails three rollers 3 are provided so that there are twelve rollers 3 in all. The axes of all of the rollers 3 at each side of each rail are fixed in a block 9 which has a pivot 10 at each end. The pivots lOof all of the four blocks 9 are journaled in a transverse slider 11 that can be moved in the frame13 on rollers 12.

The frame 13 cannot be moved transversely or longitudinally in the bridge 2 but it is arranged to be moved upwardly in the bridge. To this end the frame 13 is suspended from the bridge 2 by two screw spindles l4. Keyed to the upper ends of the screw spindles 14 are bevel wheels 15 which with bevel wheels 17 are mounted on a common shaft 16. A crank handle (not shown) may be slipped on to the four cornered end 17 of the shaft 16 and the shaft thus turned in either direction by hand thereby uniformly raising or lowering the frame 13 and all the rollers 3. If the rollers 3 are in engagement with the rails 6, as shown in Figs. 8, 9, l0 and 14, the turning of the shaft 16 would result in the whole rail-track at the middle of the bridge 2 being raised or lowered. Mounted in the middle of the transversely movable support or slider 11 is a block 19. A screw spindle 20 that is journaled in fixed bearings in the frame 13 is passed through and screwed at 21 into the block 19. If the spindle 16 is turned in one direction or the other by a crank the slider 11 and all the rollers 3 carried by it will be moved toward the left or right. If the rollers 3, as shown in Figs. 81() and 14 are in engagement with the rails 6 the whole rail-track is curved to the left or to the right as shown in Fig. 3.

For bringing the various rollers 3 simultaneously into and out of engagement with the rails the following device is provided:Each of the four blocks 9 carries two vertical upwardly directed forked arms 22. These forked ends embrace the pivots 23 of the nuts 24. The nut 24 at the one side of each rail 6 is provided with a left hand thread and nut 24 at the other side with a right hand thread. All the nuts 24 are mounted on a common spindle 25 having corresponding left and right hand threads and this spindle is journaled in the middle block 19 of the transversely movable support 11 so as to be rotatable but not movable in any other direction. If the spindle 25 is turned by means of a crank 26 (Figs. 1 and 4) in the one direction or the other all the rollers 3- will be simultaneously swung outwardly or inwardly on the pivots 10 of the blocks 9 and will be thus brought into or out of engagement with the rails.

The simultaneous raising or lowering movements and the simultaneous lateral movements to one side or the other, and also the simultaneous inward or outward swinging movements of the various pairs of rollers 3 are effected by means of spindles 16, 20 and 25 respectively that are turned by cranks. As all the three movements, the vertical movement, the horizontal movement and the swinging movements are exeouted by means of self-locking screw spindles special locking devices for securing the various adjustments are unnecessary and the rollers 3 are capable of directly exerting the very considerable forces that are required for bending the rail track laterally and upwardly and for lifting the rails in spite of the fact that they are easily movable.

The rails 6 on which the bogie carriages 1 of the bridge 2 travel are not only intended for the rail-track sluing machine but also for other devices for example for transport trucks. It is therefore desirable to be able to remove the sluing machine from its track at certain times.

In our rail-track sluing system we provide auxiliary rails 27 for this purpose which may be turned about the pivot 28, Fig. 6. These rails are placed higher than the track which has to be shifted, but the pivots 28 are mounted in a bearing that is fixed to the sleepers 30 which support the rail-track that is to be shifted. The rails 27 may be turned so as to be parallel to the rails 6 (see Fig. 3 at the left) and they are generally kept in this position. But they may be turned on the pivots 28 so as to lie vertically with respect to the main rails (see Fig. 3 at the right). The rails 27 may be suitably supported in this position by blocks such as 31, Fig. 7. A stop 32 may be provided for limiting the angle through which the rail is turned. Means (not shown) may also be provided for holding the rails in each of their extreme positions. At the ends of the bridge2 we provide means by which the bogies 1 may be lifted from the rails 6 and the machine transferred to the auxiliary rails.

In the case of the example of our invention shown in Figs. 13 we provide supporting blocks 33 at both ends of the bridge 2 next to the bogies 1 and above both of the rail-tracks. These blocks 33 can be shifted vertically in guides 34k with the aid of screw spindles 35. In the example shown it is assumed that each spindle is turned separately by a crank (not shown) that is slipped onto the four cornered end of the spindle 35. A common driving means may, however, be provided for each pair of spin dles 35 at either end of the bridge as in the case of the spindles 14:, Figs. 9 and 10.

Two pairs of transverse rails 27 are pro-- vided in the case illustrated for shifting the rail-sluing machines in a transverse direction. Then the auxiliary rails are in their out-of-action position (see left side of Fig. 3) the one rail forms an extension of the other and runs parallel to the excavator track. When ready for action both transverse rails 27 run parallel to each other and vertically to the excavator track, so that they themselves form a rail-track the gage of which corresponds to that of wheels 36 of the bogie l. The distance between the two transverse rail-tracks formed by swinging around the pairs of auxiliary rails is exactly equal to the distance between the pivots by which the bridge 2 is attached to the bogies 1. The pivots 37 of the bogies 1 are so arranged that when the bridge is lifted the whole bogie is raised with it.

If the rail-sluing machine is to be put aside it is first moved to the position in which the pivots 37 of the bogies 1 register with the center lines of the transverse tracks that would be formed by swinging the rails 27, 27 around into their operative positions. The auxiliary rails are then turned into the positions indicated at the left side of Fig. 3 by broken lines. The supporting blocks 33 are then lowered by means of the spindles 35 onto the rails 6, 6 of the track and the bridge 2 together with the bogies 1 is raised sufficiently to permit of the bogies 1 being turned through an angle of 90 and to allow of the auxiliary rails being turn-ed into their operative positions beneath the wheels 36 of the bogie 1. The transverse rails are then fixed. If the supporting blocks 33 are now screwed upward and the bogies thus lowered to the transverse tracks, the sluing machine may now be moved aside on the transverse track.

The lifting of the bridge, the moving of the transverse track into its operative position and the lowering of the bridge onto the transverse rails need not be carried out at both ends simultaneously as assumed in Figs. 1 and 2, but can be executed atone end at a time.

In the example shown in Figs. 4 and 5 the moving aside of the machine is not done on the wheels of the bogies but upon special wheels 38 which can be moved vertically in guides 40 by means of spindles 39. With this arrangement it is not necessary to revolve the bogies 1 and only two single transverse rails 27 instead of two pairs of transverse rails are required. hen the two transverse rails are in their operative positions they form a transverse track the gage of which is equal to the distance between the wheels or traveling rollers 38.

The device as described above will be advantageously applied wherever all the rails of the rail-track that is to be slued or shifted are fixed to the same sleepers as illustrated for example in Fig. 3. But in many cases the rails are fixed to two different sets or aggregations of sleepers. For example, it often happens that three rails are provided for an excavator and are fixed to a common set of sleepers, while two other rails that form a track for transport trucks or the like are fixed to another neighboring set of sleepers. By our invention rollers 41 are mounted on blocks 42 that may be swung on pivots 43, which in turn are journaled in a frame 44. The blocks 42 have arms 45 the forked ends of which embrace the pivots 46 of nuts 47 that are moved by a spindle 48 having right and left hand threads similarly as the nuts 24 are moved by the spindle 25. Then the spindle 48 is turned in the one direction the rollers 41 are moved simultaneously toward a rail 49' and when the spindle is turned in the other direction the rollers are moved away from the rail.

The frame 44 is joined by a shaft 50 to supporting pieces 51 which hold the nuts These nuts may be turned on the spindles 53 the ends of which are fixed to the frame '11 by strong bolts 54. If the frame 11 is moved aside by means of the spindle '20- it moves the frame 44 along with it causing it to execute the same amount of movement as itself. The nuts 52 are provided with worm wheels 55 that gear with the worms 56 which are mounted on a common shaft 57. By turning the shaft 57 in the one direction or the other the wheels -55 and nuts 52 are actuated simultaneously and this causes the frame 44 and'all its parts, especially the parts 41 to approach or recede from the slider 11. By this means our machine can be adapted to various distances between the neighboring tracks and the machine.

The frame 44 is suspended on pivots 58 of a cross piece 59 in which a spindle 60 is journaled so as to be rotatable by a worm 61 and a worm wheel 62. At the upper end of the spindle there is a thread (33. This is screwed into a nut 64, which is held in the frame of the bridge by pivots If the spindle 60 is turned the thread in the nut is screwed up or down and by this means the frame 44 with the rollers 41 and the rails that might be embraced by the rollers are raised or lowered.

The manner of operation of our device is as follows :The machine is placed upon the rail-track that is to be slued and the rollers are lowered and caused to embrace the upper flanges of the rails. The rollers are then raised and shifted transversely as much as it is desired to slue the track. The whole machine is then hauled over the track by a locomotive. While traveling the middle of the bridge keeps continually moving the rail-track with the sleepers out of the position indicated by unbroken lines in Fig. 12 into the position shown by broken lines and in moving farther along it lets the rails drop down to the ground. The first bogie 1 in the direction of travel will always travel on an unshifted section of track while the second bogie will travel on a shifted section. The position of the bridge will therefore be slightly oblique with respect to the direction of the rail track as seen in Fig. 3.

The operation of our machine in shifting two railtracks will be readily understood from the above explanations and by inspection of Fig. 13. The auxiliary device lifts sleepers at the one side only while the other end is slid along the ground.

lVe claim:

1. In a machine for sluing rail-tracks having a plurality of rails, a bridge, two bogie carriages one at each end of the bridge, wheels supporting the said bogie carriages and adapted to travel on certain of the said rails, roller axes pointing in a downward direction, a set of rollers mounted on said axes a-t'each side of each of the said certain rails, means for moving the sets of rollers at either side of each rail toward and away from the said rail, a flange at the bottom end of each roller adapted to embrace the rails when the rollers are moved up against the rails, a transversely movable support supporting said roller axes, means for moving the support transversely with respect to said bridge, a frame suspended from the bridge and holding the support and means for raising and lowering the said frame.

2. In a machine for sluing rail-tracks having a plurality of rails, a bridge, two bogie carriages one at each end of the bridge, wheels supporting the said bogie carriages and adapted to travel on certain of the said rails, a block at each side of each of the said certain rails, a set of roller axes attached to each block and pointing in a downward direction, a roller on each axis, pivots at the ends of said blocks, the blocks being arranged to swing on said pivots, nuts attached to said blocks, a screw spindle with right and left hand threads screwed into said nuts, means for turning the said spindle so as to move the sets of rollers toward and away from the said rails, a flange at the bottom end of each roller adapted to embrace the rails when the rollers are moved up against the rails, a transversely movable support supporting the said blocks, means for moving the support transversely with respect to said bridge, a frame suspended from the bridge and holding the support, and means for raising and lowering the said frame.

'3. In a machine for sluing rail-tracks having a plurality of rails, a bridge, two bogie carriages one at each end of the bridge, wheels supporting the said bogie carriages and adapted to travel on certain of the said rails, a block at each side of each of the said certain rails, a set of roller axes attached to each block and pointing in a downward direction, a roller on each axis, pivots at the ends of said blocks, the blocks being arranged to swing on said pivots, nut-s attached to said blocks, a screw spindle with right and left hand threads screwed into said nuts, means for turning the said spindle so as to move the sets of rollers toward and away from the said rails, a flange at the bottom end of each roller adapted to embrace the rails when the rollers are moved up against the rails, a transversely movable support supporting the said blocks, a frame suspended from the bridge, a screw spindle ournaled in said frame, and threaded in the said support into which the spindle is screwed, means for turning said spindle so as to shift said support in the frame, vertical screw spindles suspended from the bridge, nuts attached to the said frame and screwed onto the said spindles and means for turning the vertical screw spindles so as to raise and lower the said frame.

4. In a machine for sluing rail-tracks having a plurality of rails, a bridge, two bogie carriages, one at each end of the bridge, adapted to be supported by certain of the said rails, means at the middle part of the said bridge for raising and lowering the said certain rails, means for moving the rails laterally with respect to the said bridge, means at the ends of the said bridge adapted to raise the said bogie carriages from the said certain rails, rail pieces pointing in a direction at right angles to the said rails of the rail tracks, and means supporting and shifting the bridge on the said rail pieces.

5. In a machine for sluing rail-tracks having a plurality of rails, a bridge, two bogie carriages, one at each end of the bridge, adapted to be supported by certain of the said rails, means at the middle part of the said bridge for raising and lowering the said certain rails, means for moving the rails laterally with respect to the said bridge, means at the ends of the said bridge adapted to raise the said bogie carriages from the said certain rails, supporting rollers at the ends of the said bridge, rail pieces above the said rails adapted to be placed in a parallel or transverse direction with respect to these rails, means for securing the said rail pieces in either direction, and means for placing the said supporting rollers upon the said rail pieces. I

6. In a machine for sluing rail-tracks, a rail-track having a plurality of fails,- a

bridge, two bogie carriages, one at each end of the bridge adapted to be supported by certain of the said rails, sleepers for the rails, sets of rollers at the middle part of the said bridge adapted to raise and lower the said rails together with the said sleepers, means for laterally moving the said rollers with the rails and sleepers, a second railtrack having a plurality of rails and sleepers, these sleepers being independent of the sleepers of the first rail-track, second sets of rollers at the side of the middle part of the bridge adapted to embrace one rail of the said second rail-track, means for raising and lowering the said second set of rollers, means for laterally shifting the second sets of rollers, means on the bridge supporting these second sets of rollers.

7. In a machine for sluing rail-tracks, a rail-track, a bridge, two bogie carriages, one at each end of the bridge, rails in said railtrack supporting the said bogie carriages, sleepers for the said rails, a block at each side of the said supporting rails, a set of roller axes attached to each block and pointing in a downward direction, a roller on each axis, pivots at the ends of the said blocks, the blocks being arranged to swing on said pivots, nuts attached to said blocks, a screw spindle with right and left hand threads screwed into said nuts, means for turning the said spindle so as to move the sets of rollers toward and away from the said rails, a flange at the bottom end of each roller adapted to embrace the rails when the rollers are moved up against the rails, a transversely movable support supporting the said blocks, a second rail-track having a plurality of rails, sleepers for the said seoond railtrack, these sleepers being independent of the sleepers of the first rail-track, a block at either side of one rail of the second rail-track, a set of roller axes attached to either of the said second blocks and pointing in a downward direction, a roller on each axis, pivots at the ends of the second blocks, the said second blocks being arranged to swing on said pivots, nuts attached to the second blocks, a screw spindle with a right and a left hand thread screwed into said nuts, means for turning the said spindle so as to move the rollers toward and away from the said rail, a flange at the bottom end of each roller adapted to embrace the said rail when the rollers are moved up against the same, a supporting frame for the pivots of the said second blocks, a connection between the said supporting frame and the said transversely movable support, means for varying the distance between the said supporting frame and the said transversely movable support, means for moving the said movable support, the supporting frame, their attached rollers, the

rails and sleepers transversely With respect In testimony that We claim the foregoing 10 to said bridge, a frame suspended from the as our invention We have signed our names bridge and holding the said movable supin presence of two subscribing witnesses.

port means for raisin and lowering the T said holding frame, a direct connection be- ARBEAZ' tween the said supporting frame and the bridge, and means for raising and lowering \Vitnesses: the said supporting frame and the said parts VVOLDEMAR HAUPT, attached to it. HENRY HAsPER.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 01' Patents,

- Washington, D. G. 

